Walker: See You Sometime (Series Finale)

It is time to ride off into the sunset. Fortunately, there will be no crime in the entire state of Texas while the Rangers wrap-up some final personal and administrative business. It was a tough season for Cordell Walker, so maybe he would be happy to know this will be the last. Frankly, he is lucky to be alive for “See You Sometime,” the series finale of Walker, which premieres tonight on CW.

Apparently, The Jackal had Walker strapped to a gurney and buried alive, so he is still understandably a bit shaky. To his credit, he is finally starting to open with his family and girlfriend, because he cannot pretend this case wasn’t brutal on them too.

Consequently, there will be no crimes solved in this episode. Instead, it is all about character pay-off. The only open question left to resolved is who gets the promotion to lieutenant? The answer is embargoed, but even if it weren’t, it would be no fair telling.

Magnum P.I.: Series Finale, on NBC

The corruption of one of Hawaii’s governors should not surprise anybody. In this instance, he has been thoroughly compromised by a highly organized blackmail operation. However, Magnum and Higgins must first work another case before they can get to the blackmailers in the back-to-back episodes that conclude the fifth and final season of Magnum P.I. this Wednesday on NBC.

Initially, “Ashes to Ashes” starts out as a tragedy. TC Calvin’s firefighter girlfriend Mahina is quite distraught over a death she was not able to prevent. To make matters worse, the victim’s niece has fallen under suspicion, but Mahina is convinced she is innocent of Uncle Moku’s presumed death-by-arson, so TC calls in a favor from Magnum.

Thanks to some legwork accompanied by snappy romantic banter, the he and Higgins quickly determine the body was not Uncle Moku, but rather an already deceased corpse stolen from a nearby mortuary. That means the real Moku could still be alive, but he would necessarily be in grave danger.

“Ashes to Ashes” features some solid procedural stuff, but the secondary storyline, chronicling “Kumu” Tuileta’s first day volunteering with Rick Wright at a veteran’s helpline is far more memorable. As you might expect, events take a dramatic turn in the tradition of The Slender Thread. Magnum P.I. is (or rather was) one of the few television/streaming shows featuring veteran characters who are not solely defined by their PTSD. However, in this case, the PTSD storyline is handled with sensitivity and empathy. It is also a great feature spot for series regular Amy Hill as Tuileta.

At one point in “Ashes to Ashes” Magnum and Higgins cut some legal corners for the sake of justice that will have repercussions in “The Big Squeeze.” Unbeknownst to them, they were recorded by henchmen working for Sam Bedrosian, a returning villain from four episodes ago, who uses it as leverage against the detectives. He needs them to solve the murder of the man responsible for his blackmail operation. Obviously, they cannot involve the cops, but their friend Det. Gordon Katsumoto catches wind of it anyway.

The Flash: A New World, Part Four

This isn't just a series finale. It is a universe finale, marking the end of the interconnected Arrowverse shows on CW. Either Superman & Lois or Gotham Knights might still eke out a renewal, but they are both set in different DC universes. Logically, a lot of familiar faces come back for the “final run,” which is fortunate, since Barry Allen will need plenty of help saving the current timeline in “A New World, Part Four,” the final episode of The Flash, airing tonight on the CW.

Obviously, a lot has happened since “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want to,” much of it involving time and speed. It seems a lot of the Flash’s old nemeses, living and dead, have been brought together, to combine their powers and harness the speed equivalent of The Force to defeat Team Flash. It would be deemed a spoiler to name names, but if you have only watched a few cherry-picked episodes this season, they might not be immediately recognizable. Regardless, they are all speedy.

Meanwhile, Iris West-Allen is in the hospital poised to deliver Baby Nora. The long-awaited arrival of babies is a staple of series finales. Frankly, “New World, Part Four” includes pretty much each and every one you could think of, except the Seinfeld-style clip-package trial. Honestly, The Flash’s finale is more satisfying, for exactly that reason.

Intelligence: A Special Agent Special, on Peacock

Where is KAOS from Get Smart when we need them? The enemies of Western democracy are very real and they are on the march. The CCP is committing genocide in Xinjiang and sending spy balloons over the United States. Putin invaded Ukraine, a democracy aspiring to align itself with NATO and the EU. However, the producers and writer-creator of Intelligence cast as their final villain a UK Conservative politician who isn’t as green as they would like her to be. Remember this episode next time a pundit complains about the polarization of society. Of course, a lot of people will probably forget about the one-shot special, because it concludes the entire series. The shticky misadventures of the blowhard NSA Agent Jerry Bernstein and his nebbish GCHQ sidekick Joseph Harries end on a divisive note when Intelligence: A Special Agent Special premieres Thursday on Peacock.

GCHQ has been hacked, which is pretty bad. Even “worse,” they stole the damning climate data that would have undermined the new jobs- and standard-of-living-friendly policy of current Energy Minister Joanna Telfer Fotheringham, who happens to be the estranged sister of GCHQ boss Christine Cranfield. Since the government considers it a bad thing for the UK’s NSA to be compromised, Cranfield is getting sacked. However, in her remaining time left, she hatches a screwball scheme with moronic Bernstein and klutzy Harries to swap in the real data, during Fotheringham addresses the G7.

Given the in media res opening, depicting the bickering Bernstein and Harries in a Perils-of-Pauline-style predicament, it is probably safe to guess their mission went down poorly. If you think G7 climate conferences are dangerous, try protesting for democracy in Hong Kong. Also, try imagining the outcry if one of America’s intelligence agencies interfered with a Jennifer Granholm speech. However, creator-writer-co-star Nick Mohammed apparently believes all laws and rules of decorum are all conditional on agreement with his political ideology.

Inspector Lewis: The Final Season

Say it isn’t so, Robbie. Thanks to the original Inspector Morse (33 episodes running from 1987 to 2000), the prequel Endeavour (commenced in 2012 and still a going concern), and Inspector Lewis, the spin-off that made good (2006 to right now), Americans might think Oxford has a greater homicide rate than Detroit. At least those cases had a high degree of sophistication. After thirty years of playing everyone’s favorite Geordie Detective Inspector on the Thames Valley CID, Kevin Whatley is finally retiring, but he will go out doing what his beloved character does best in Inspector Lewis, The Final Season (trailer here), which premieres tomorrow night on PBS.

Despite retiring once already, Lewis has returned like a bad penny, as a DI contractor. Instead, it is his once skeptical Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent who has moved on. The new fast-tracked micromanaging CS Joseph Moody clearly rubs James Hathaway (now a DI himself) the wrong way and gives Lewis concerns regarding his contract renewal. Throughout One for Sorrow, both DI’s and their Detective Sergeant Lizzie Maddox will deal with the new boss’s constant check-ups and condescending suggestions as they investigate the murder of a performance artist who incorporated taxidermy in her installations. Of course, it also turns out the extra body discovered in an ancient campus well is directly related to the high profile murder.

Sorrow is pretty satisfyingly twisty and convoluted mystery, featuring Tim Pigott-Smith (the once and future Prince of Wales in King Charles III) as a slightly shady taxidermist. It also introduces the major themes of the final season: Hathaway coming to terms with his dementia-addled father and Lewis’s fear of losing what has always defined him, while finally starting to get serious about Dr. Laura Hobson, everyone’s favorite late-middle-aged forensic pathologist.

Moody starts to settle down and realize how helpful a crafty veteran like Lewis can be maintaining a high case-closure rate in Magnum Opus. Viewers might even pick up a little Christian theology during this case, in which a killer stalks members of an Oxford society inspired by the writings of Charles Williams, probably the third most influential member the Inklings, after C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Despite several dead mystical-evangelical Christians, Chris Murray’s teleplay treats their faith with respect and might leave some viewers intrigued enough to read Williams’ work (fyi, he also wrote fantasy). As a further bonus, Honeysuckle Weeks (from Foyle’s War) effectively plays against type as Carina Beskin, the first victim’s guilt ridden sister.

Lewis and Hathaway have a super high profile case on their hands when an apolitical murderer targets an Oxford geneticist with a letter bomb. Indeed, What Lies Tangled is another case with above average reversals and misdirection, but the real stakes involve Lewis and Hathaway’s personal issues. Not surprisingly, they are both better at diagnosing their longtime partners’ hang-ups than confronting their own. Regardless, Tangled does right by its beloved characters. There are no big life-altering developments or MASH-style tear-jerking goodbyes, but it offers us a thimble full of closure while staying true to the show’s spirit.

Lewis was consistently well written and the telegenic Oxford locations added a lot of flavor, but it is the chemistry between Whatley, Laurence Fox’s Hathaway, and Claire Holman’s Hobson that made the show such a reliable pleasure. (To his credit, new arrival Steve Toussaint’s Moody quickly starts to feel like he belongs as well.) In a way, Inspector Lewis directly compares to Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier, as they were both spinoffs that established their own identity and had long runs comparable to their source series. A lot of fans will be sorry to see them take their final bows, but thirty years of Robbie Lewis is a remarkable milestone for Whatley. Good show everyone. Highly recommended for all British mystery fans, Inspector Lewis: The Final Season starts tomorrow night (8/7) on most PBS stations nationwide.